Arne goes Mainstream

[Arne Saknussemm]

Every now and then I foolishly accept an invite... from some poor acquaintance... or relative... or other... and am forced to leave my home....



...which, of course, is equipped with a high end desktop!

These forays invariably lead me to some hovel...



and invariably they are equipped with some kind of everyman computing device..."mainstream" they tell me.....

[Arne Saknussemm]

Sooo

Of late it seems this mainstream stuff has been getting quite good and even held up as an OC must have...

X99 has been around for ever and with X299 in the offing Arne thought he'd be cunning...flog off X99 while it still comands a good price...

Slum it for a bit with "Mainstream" while waiting for the specs of the new HEDT........genius...

So...for the second hand price of the 5960X alone...I get a brand new MB and CPU!! Mainstream is a hit right off the bat!





I went with the Maximus IX Formula and the i7-7700K.

Reasons were... the look of the board...just like the aesthetics...I loved my rampage IV Black and Rampage V10E builds...the smart, all black look.

The Extreme is not out yet here in Europe...and is kitted out with a waterblock. That's good and bad to my mind. I kind of like to put my own block on so was wondering if i'd buy a board and then take off the block that was on it, that I´d paid for...just to stick a new one on...

[Arne Saknussemm]

The Good

The board is a beauty...heavy...quality...



If you look at the back of the board you can tell this is a quality bit of kit!



It´s going to be a good build...despite some early niggles...

The Bad

For a watercooling board it's not going to get the top prize from me...one simple reason...the EK VRM block is not all it could be. If you are looking to integrate the block with your existing loop components you better not be using anything but the smallest diameter fittings 10/13mm tubing/fittings. I have 12/16mm tubing fittings and they don't fit on the block! Because...and...I really don´t get this design decision...the shielding on the block is raised around the top port and you can't tighten down any larger fittings...

Totally unecessary...


The lower port has no problem




The Ugly

The port is pretty bad plastic and it is very easy to thread it and chew it up with EK's own fittings...the new low profile fittings are especially aggressive and will chew it up in a heart beat. The raised patterning around the port is also a bit of a head scratcher....where you want your rubber seal to meet a flat surface!! I mean...come on...someone needs to up their game.

I am available for consultation at pretty unreasonable rates EK

Also...I hate the PCIe slot spacing...need to keep this 4 PCIe lanes...not 3...


Anyway...though I have posted up in detail the niggles (maybe someone will take notice and this good board can become a great?!) the board is a high end gaming builder's dream...

Of course I like my OCing too so let's see how it fares with the new CPU and if it's good enough to let me forget X99...

[panzlock]

...What are you on about???

[Arne Saknussemm]

...What are you on about???

Err...do I need medication or do you

[xeromist]

I'd probably throw a short intermediate fitting on there so that I could use what I wanted. Obviously you shouldn't have to, but whatcha gonna do?

[Arne Saknussemm]

Hey Xeromist! Yep...I'll have to order a couple...or hunt through that drawer of odds and ends there might be a couple in there.

But I'd hate that to hold up a build...and I reckon a bit of attention to detail could have avoided that...but not a biggie...

[Nate152]

Hey Arne !

I see what you're saying about the fittings, how did you get the plugs out with it being raised around the fitting holes?

It doesn't look like you can use a screw driver on the plugs. 10mm x 13mm = 3/8 x 1/2, is this the biggest size you can use without an extender or adapter ? I'm using 3/8 x 5/8 on the maximus viii formula.

I'm looking forward to your overclocking results.

[panzlock]

Err...do I need medication or do you

I posted that before your other posts. Your initial post was...vague. But you must have posted the remainder of your project before I clicked the submit button.

My mistake. Carry on.

[Arne Saknussemm]

how did you get the plugs out with it being raised around the fitting holes?

Hi Nate!

The plugs are actually easy enough to get out...bottom port shielding is not really raised around so that's straightforward...plug has toothed edge so just twist...top port, while shield is raised...it's not right next to plug so you can get fingertips in comfortably enough.

Yep...exactly...10/13 mm (3/8,1/2) is maximum size that fits without getting out the dremmel and shaving plastic off...

I have solved my problem...as Xeromist suggested...I checked and found I had a couple of special water-cooling spacers (that came with my EK universal GPU blocks)...basically a 2mm shim with recess for a rubber seal...they allow me to place a fitting on top and clear surrounding shield with minimal extension....

Will post a photo tomorrow...

I posted that before your other posts.

Yeah...I figured...only joking